Currently Oxo or Guerbet alcohols are used to make various intermediate products. Generally short chain olefins, (e.g., C3 or C4) can be oligomerized to yield branched olefins with 2 or more branches per molecules. The branched olefins can then be hydroformylated to yield highly branched alcohols.
Such alcohols can be produced by commercial processes, for example, the Oxo or hydroformylation of long chain olefins. Typical long chain alcohols are the commercially available, for example, the Exxal™ alcohols available from ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil makes various Exxal™ alcohols that are isomeric mixtures of primary, branched aliphatic alcohols, with high alcohol purity. The grade slate ranges from C8 to C13 and includes Exxal™ 8 (isooctanol, alcohols C7-C9-iso, C8-rich), Exxal™ 9 (isononanol, alcohols C8-C10-iso, C9-rich), Exxal™ 10 (isodecanol, alcohols C9-C11-iso, C10-rich), Exxal™ 11 (isoundecanol, alcohols C9-C11-branched), and Exxal™ 13 (isotridecanol, alcohols C11-14-iso, C13-rich).
There is a need for an alternative to conventional branched alcohol process technology. In particular, there is a need for a new branched alcohol process technology in which the branched alcohols are useful in the synthesis of ester based low viscosity low volatility (LVLV) base stocks.
The present disclosure also provides many additional advantages, which shall become apparent as described below.